What are you currently playing?

(Gaming discussion not related to Shenmue)

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby shredingskin » Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:34 am

Finished life is strange before the storm.

I was liking it, but hell, the third chapter was pretty much ***.

Eveything except the animations and the music is worse than the original, the graphics look less stylized (weird they use higher res textures for textures that should have a muddied look), the lighting feels unidimensional (in the original it was handled great), the voice acting is better on some places, but mostly a little bit worse, the direction of some scenes is great, but in most is a little bit bland, the enviroments feel a lot less lived in, and there are less interactions.

I liked Chloe more than Max, and Rachel was an interesting character, it's just that the story doesn't really adds much to the original, and ends up being disposeable (I guess it's the problem with most prequels). The new "say what is right" mechanic is ok enough, but not really engaging, the tag mechanic doesn't feel really organic and kinda seems childish... I don't know. The second episode was great, and the first episode had some good moments, but still the last episode dragged on a lot and the resolution is pretty deus ex machina.

I did enjoy it, and some moments I think that even surpassed the original, but mostly it's a 7 game.
User avatar
shredingskin
Machine Gun Fist
Machine Gun Fist
 
Joined: March 2012
Location: Argentina
Favorite title: Shenmue
Currently playing: Some indie games.

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby *Kenshin Himura* » Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:42 am

Image
User avatar
*Kenshin Himura*
飛天御剣
"After Burner...Great!"
 
Joined: December 2005
Location: Japan 飛天御剣スタイルを実践
Favorite title: Shenmue IIx
Currently playing: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby OL » Thu May 17, 2018 11:03 pm

So I'm stepping out of my usual bubble/box/plastic bag lately; sure, I'm still playing Yakuza 6 and all, but after I tried out that game Blue Reflection and found that it actually wasn't making me gag (it's so goddamn girly, and yet relaxing), I got the urge to try something else with a very similar groove to it.
I got vaguely interested in the Atelier series (made by Gust, the same developer as Blue Reflection) years ago on the PS3 when Kenshin posted about it, but it was right about then that my general aversion to anime shite kicked in and I haven't gone near it since. But now that that's subsided a bit, and since Blue Reflection actually proved enjoyable, I decided to pick up the first Atelier game on PS4, Atelier Sophie.
And I gotta say, I'm actually liking it quite a lot. And it's kind of funny; as trope-y and cliche as it may look from the outside, it's actually gotta be one of the most unconventional JRPGs I've ever played. Most of this will count for the entire Atelier series but there's so much here that makes it unusual to me.
The story has absolutely nothing to do with saving the world, fighting some great evil, getting revenge, or any of that; rather, it's about a girl finding a magic talking book, and subsequently trying to help it regain its lost memories. It's very farytale-esque, very kiddy and all that, but it's kind of nice to actually be playing something that isn't centered all around the blanket concept of "fighting evil."
That being said, there is fighting present, but it all basically takes place as you gather materials for your alchemy. Absolutely nothing about the violence is malicious in any way so far, nor is it being used much at all for dramatic effect. It's probably some of the most family-friendly JRPG stuff I've ever seen.
It's also interesting to me that the main protagonist is pretty much the "support" character in your little team of heroes; she's probably the weakest one, physically, but has the greatest access to items and whatnot.
And I never figured this would be the case, but I'm totally addicted to the actual alchemy in the game. It's not the usual for me, but I'm having a lot of fun trying over and over to produce items and equipment with the best stats and traits available and all that; if anything, that's the real focus of the game, and I'm having a ball micromanaging everything.
So yeah, surprised the hell out of me.

It's kind of funny, I look at the bigger-name JRPGs that I could be playing at the moment, and I just don't feel all that interested. They aim to be as grand and epic and emotionally resonant as possible, going on about war and conflict and the effects of violence and so on and so forth... and here I am playing a much smaller, much more "quaint" little game about a small-town girl innocently synthesizing medicine and interacting with always-friendly townspeople.
It's weird how tastes change. Never would have dug this stuff before, but I'm pretty interested in a good deal of the rest of the series now. Definitely want to try the others on PS4, and the "Dusk" series on PS3 looks pretty great too.
User avatar
OL
Yo jes hummilated yoursef
Shenmue III
 
Joined: May 2003

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby AnimeGamer183 » Thu May 17, 2018 11:44 pm

Heh, I was going to bump this topic a few days ago, and decided to hold off, but since some one else did, ill say my piece.

Oh the anime tropes humor and cliches in Tales of Zestiria, but yet there is just enough of it to make me appreciate it. Yes I FINALLY decided to give this a play after being hyped for it since laucnh/Tales of Xillia, although I was ok with skipping this one and going to Berseria I own Zesti and not the other so this is what I chose. I finally got over my gaming slump and just put it in and started playing, and it was just what I needed right now.

Anyway its core story and main character are a bit cookie cutter, sheltered teenage boy from a secluded place in the world who lives a life among higher entities that the common dwellers cant see with out a high exposure and affinity to them appears in the common world and becomes the savior of prophecy and sets out on his journey to purify the tainted land, yadda yadda. The cast consists of some tropey characters and some so out there that I cant help but smile and love the crazy dialogue the keep spewing, but the main male and female characters are a bit to good and morally sound and its interesting how the game and other characters intentionally point it out and make fun of each other and pull each other out of their comfort zones for the audiences laughs. I am sure its arguable whether this is actually desirable to have in the game and im sure its off putting for some as it does make you just shake your head, but for me in a good way thats making me laugh and the remainder of the story hasnt really gotten going yet after the 15 hours I have put into it so far.

It has a sound action battle system and interesting skill and menu options, its a bit minimal in some aspects of the menu but it has complexity in other ways and some of the upgrading equipping and stat boosting options are very unique and stuff I have never seen in an RPG before, so im still getting used to unfamiliar parts so in that way its a welcome change and I am looking forward to see how it progresses.
User avatar
AnimeGamer183
Shenmue III
Shenmue III
 
Joined: April 2003

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Haruto » Fri May 18, 2018 2:25 am

playing DMC3 HD on PS4 and dear lord HD has not helped this game much,it's ugly. Yeah I know what era it's from but other HD ports from this era clean up well. Not most but many have cleaned up much better. Still a good game at least. One thing I really did not like from this era of action games I'm glad is gone from modern action games. Puzzles and switches to open a door. Breaks up the flow and one of the reasons it's hard to go back to Ninja Gaiden 1 among a few other reasons(mainly the structure). I love DMC games but Bayonetta is now the better series. Better combat,and gameplay design. It just goes nonstop. No silly switches to flip or dumb puzzle to open the door. Boss fights are far more exciting. Again still love DMC but these games are really showing their age and it's mainly in the game design. I'm in Chapter 14 in DMC3 atm. I never played DMC2 andI don't plan to. I will never play DMC2 or DmC. I sure plan to be there when DMCV is announced at E3 since we all know it's all but confirmed at this point.Maybe continue Nero's story? I would not even be against the idea of rebooting with the true Dante we know and love. Maybe just a soft reboot. Everything 1-4 is still valid but back to basics.
User avatar
Haruto
Banned
Banned
 
Joined: April 2018
Favorite title: Shenmue

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby MiTT3NZ » Fri May 18, 2018 9:39 am

Sea of Thieves. It has me locked in a trance. I know there's nothing to it and there's some moments of pure devastation when the game breaks, but I just love it. Like a ludicrously fit bird who's only willing to do one position, I don't care coz I enjoy it that much! The water has me mesmerised the entire time n'all, I spend fucking ages lookin at it n thinkin "how the bleedin ell have they done this?"

It's gonna keep gettin better, then break, then get worse, then better again for quite a while I reckon, but I'm so invested in it I've followed the page on Twitter. For context I typically use it just for football.

If you haven't tried the game do it! (Usin the 14-day Game Pass trial) Not into it? Don't blame you. Love it though? Prepare to waste hours upon hours of your life n not give two shiny shites.
User avatar
MiTT3NZ
Class A Cunt
Shenmue III
 
Joined: January 2005
Location: Manchester, innit!
XBL: Mittens2317
Steam: Mittens2317
Favorite title: Shenmue
Currently playing: Football Manager 2012

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby newyokohama » Wed May 23, 2018 9:38 am

Games I gave up on this year: Killer 7 PS2 (can't beat the chapter 4 boss), Chrono Trigger (can't beat Magus), and Yakuza 1 PS2 (ran out of interest.)
User avatar
newyokohama
Asia Travel Representative
Asia Travel Representative
 
Joined: May 2018
Favorite title: Shenmue
Currently playing: Catchup

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Haruto » Wed May 30, 2018 12:39 am

Landstalker-PS4
Fallen Legion: Rise of Glory-Switch

Also might play Ikaruga for a 5th time tonight before sleep on Switch. Man I love shmups. Such an amazing genre getting revived on PS4 and Switch. I know 360 had it's fair share but PS4/Switch have so many it's like the 90s all over again. :D
User avatar
Haruto
Banned
Banned
 
Joined: April 2018
Favorite title: Shenmue

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Henry Spencer » Sun Jun 03, 2018 6:26 pm

Detroit: Become Human - Beat it last night. Fantastic game, one of the best games of the year. I've always enjoyed Cage's games in one way (hilariously bad story - Indigo Prophecy) or another (Omikron was cool for its time, mashing up all those genres and Heavy Rain was a fun time). This is definitely Quantic Dream's best game though, without a doubt. So many routes and choices, it's nuts and the story is actually coherent and well put together this time! No silly twists either. Characters were actually great too (Clancy Brown as Hank being one of my favourites. Connor and Kara were two of my other favourites). A really good cyberpunk adventure.
User avatar
Henry Spencer
Let's go Catherine!
Shenmue III
 
Joined: July 2003
Location: The Office
PSN: harryangel666
XBL: Magiking
Favorite title: Shenmue
Currently playing: Yakuza Kiwami/Zelda: BOTW

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Haruto » Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:20 pm

Icey. Great side scrolling hand drawn action game. Been a lot of buzz over this so decided to try it. Like Bastion it has a narrator but not nearly as good a VA. Can choose different languages. This game is China breaking into the indie scene and quite well I may add.
User avatar
Haruto
Banned
Banned
 
Joined: April 2018
Favorite title: Shenmue

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Supa » Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:31 pm

About to start the original Phantasy Star series between Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and SEGA Genesis Classics. Also have Age Of Empires Definitive Edition in my sights, as well as replaying the Yakuza series to 100% them (hopefully).

Supa has received a thanks from: Haruto
User avatar
Supa
"Keep Friends"
"Keep Friends"
 
Joined: April 2004
Favorite title: Shenmue

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby OL » Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:23 pm

After finishing Wolfenstein 2, I got the urge to go back and try to finish Doom. Only got about three or four levels in before. Playing past that, it's crazy how intense the action gets later on. And it's kind of amazing how true it is to the spirit of the original, while still feeling fresh and modern as hell. Just such a fantastic FPS. I might be only about halfway through, I think, but I'm already way more hyped for the upcoming sequel now.

Also grabbed both Destroy All Humans games on a flash sale on PSN a few days ago. Been playing the first, and I'm weirdly blown away. I never really looked into the series before, but it's a helluva lot of fun so far. Also didn't realize it was made by Pandemic (the same now-defunct studio that made the Mercenaries games and The Saboteur). It's one of those series that I always saw on store shelves but never payed any attention to, so it's like a weird little revelation playing it now.

Got Earth Defense Force 4.1 on the Steam summer sale as well, so I've been playing a bit of that in co-op multiplayer with my brothers. Just good, dumb fun. My brothers had never played the series before, so they seem to be continually impressed by how expansive the levels are, and how big the scale is of some things. One of them played as an Air Raider yesterday and called in the Walking Fortress Balam (a giant robot, one of the main new additions to 4.1), and it was just a chorus of all of us on Discord going "Whooooaaaa, what the f..."

And a totally random thing, I started up Front Mission Evolved, since I never finished that back in the day. Had it on Steam as well. It's actually much, much better than I remember. Most Front Mission fans seem to absolutely hate it for the fact that it isn't a strategy game like the rest of the series. I personally never really hated it, but I was bothered that it was another one of those Japanese series outsourced to be made by a western company. I remember thinking, if anything, that it was just kind of unremarkable.
But booting it up now, it's actually pretty damn good, all things considered. Pretty basic third-person shooter, but the aesthetics are really nice, and the cutscenes are really well-animated and directed. Back when Segata Sanshiro used to post on here, I remember him basically likening it to a modern remake of Front Mission: Gun Hazard, and y'know what... that's not a bad comparison. I'm having fun with it now, so that's what matters.
Makes me itch even more for Left Behind, the upcoming stealth-action game set in the FM universe. My biggest disappointment with the recent E3 was simply that that wasn't shown at all.

OL has received a thanks from: Henry Spencer
User avatar
OL
Yo jes hummilated yoursef
Shenmue III
 
Joined: May 2003

Re: What are you currently playing?

Postby Henry Spencer » Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:22 pm

Really need to get around to playing Doom, heard nothing but great things. When I next have that FPS itch, that will be the next game that I play.

Anyway been replaying Resident Evil 2 and actually got my first A rank as Leon (finished Claire A scenario with a B rank) and in turn unlocked 4th Survivor (where you play as HUNK) which is real fun and a cool extra where Zombie Brad appears outside the Police Station. Just finishing it all reminded me of why it's one of my favourite games of all time and makes me even more excited for the reimagining (which I was initially disappointed about being TPS and not having cinematic cameras like REmake).

Also led me to play RE5 again which I hadn't played since release almost a decade ago. Loved it upon release date and lived up to my hype after RE4 blew me away. So it's nice to return to these games again and find they're still so great. The combat for me is the most refined in the series, yes, including RE6, which tried to take the series into new territory (more towards even more action focus with melee counters, quickdives, dual wielding and beat 'em up elements). Not that RE6 combat was bad or anything, but RE5 just hit that sweet spot between staying true to being the action adventure game whilst refining what made RE4 so great in the first place. I feel that RE5 is greatly underrated by the fanbase despite it being a clear attempt by refining what people loved about RE4's aesthetics and gameplay mixed with trying to stay more true to the "RE mythos", as it were, since RE diehard fans complained about how RE4 "betrayed" the story canon by changing everything up. Also the co-op aspect is fine by me too, Sheva's AI is better than what people were moaning about back then too, her AI was programmed smartly to get you out of hot spots (heal, revive, take out the enemies gathering around you etc) and the boss encounters are great as well. Such a great game, screw the haters.

It also makes me know that the RE2 Remake is in great hands, since the Director is actually Yasuhiro Anpo, who was the director of RE5 and lead programmer of RE2 (and a member of the Onimusha team, working as a Planner and Lead Programmer on those games also). So his credentials check out, out of the remaining members of the Resident Evil team, I think the RE2 Remake is in good hands with him at the helm.

Henry Spencer has received 2 thanks from: Bambi, OL
User avatar
Henry Spencer
Let's go Catherine!
Shenmue III
 
Joined: July 2003
Location: The Office
PSN: harryangel666
XBL: Magiking
Favorite title: Shenmue
Currently playing: Yakuza Kiwami/Zelda: BOTW

Re: What games are you playing?

Postby Bambi » Sat Jul 21, 2018 4:56 pm

Henry Spencer wrote: Anyway been replaying Resident Evil 2 and actually got my first A rank as Leon (finished Claire A scenario with a B rank) and in turn unlocked 4th Survivor (where you play as HUNK) which is real fun and a cool extra where Zombie Brad appears outside the Police Station. Just finishing it all reminded me of why it's one of my favourite games of all time and makes me even more excited for the reimagining (which I was initially disappointed about being TPS and not having cinematic cameras like REmake).

Also led me to play RE5 again which I hadn't played since release almost a decade ago. Loved it upon release date and lived up to my hype after RE4 blew me away. So it's nice to return to these games again and find they're still so great. The combat for me is the most refined in the series, yes, including RE6, which tried to take the series into new territory (more towards even more action focus with melee counters, quickdives, dual wielding and beat 'em up elements). Not that RE6 combat was bad or anything, but RE5 just hit that sweet spot between staying true to being the action adventure game whilst refining what made RE4 so great in the first place. I feel that RE5 is greatly underrated by the fanbase despite it being a clear attempt by refining what people loved about RE4's aesthetics and gameplay mixed with trying to stay more true to the "RE mythos", as it were, since RE diehard fans complained about how RE4 "betrayed" the story canon by changing everything up. Also the co-op aspect is fine by me too, Sheva's AI is better than what people were moaning about back then too, her AI was programmed smartly to get you out of hot spots (heal, revive, take out the enemies gathering around you etc) and the boss encounters are great as well. Such a great game, screw the haters.

It also makes me know that the RE2 Remake is in great hands, since the Director is actually Yasuhiro Anpo, who was the director of RE5 and lead programmer of RE2 (and a member of the Onimusha team, working as a Planner and Lead Programmer on those games also). So his credentials check out, out of the remaining members of the Resident Evil team, I think the RE2 Remake is in good hands with him at the helm.

Weird timing! I just dug out a couple of RE posts we made in this topic in 2011.

Bambi wrote:
Henry Spencer wrote:Finished RE1: Director's Cut (which I had never played before; arrange mode is really cool) & Resi Evil 4 (PSN "HD" version, which is basically a port of the Wii version) clocking in at 15 hours and gave Mercenaries a quick whirl. Great games, forgot how great they really are actually. Now I'm playing RE2: Dual Shock Edition and just completed Leon A [which gave me infinite rocket launcher and infinite chaingun!!!], now onto Claire B. Resi Evil 2 is still my fave in the series.

I always found it strange that Claire A - Leon B is the "canon" version of events, pretty much everyone I know played it the other way around, especially with Leon's disc being the first one.

I love the old Resident Evil games, I have fond memories of playing the first game on the Sega Saturn, my friend and I were so scared that we boarded up my door with some furniture and insisted my dog stayed in the room to protect us.

I got the second game when it was first released, it was easily my favourite, a friend of mine still does speed runs of it every now and then. I'm sure that I got Nemesis on release as well but I only completed it once, which is pretty weird considering I've bought all the ports of it, essentially I've bought the same game three times and only really played it once.

I loved Code Veronica though, I did "knife only" runs for huge portions of it, I never quite understood why it wasn't a numbered game, I remember reading something about keeping the numbered titles on the Playstation or something...

After that I sort of lost interest in console gaming and while I did buy a Gamecube exclusively for the Resident Evil remake and Zero, I never really played them properly, which is a real shame as I've since watched friends play them through and they look great.

Anyways, here endeth the diatribe.

Image

A mere 7 years later and I'm finally going for it with REmake!

This game is brilliant, I'm genuinely creeped out the entire time I'm playing it and a couple of the scares got me good. :oops:

Definitely no need for me to take a "what RE character are you?" quiz.

Image
Relatable.

Bambi has received a thanks from: OL
User avatar
Bambi
The Master of Unlocking
"Keep Friends"
 
Joined: May 2003
Location: Scotland
Favorite title: Shenmue

Previous

Return to General Gaming

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

Powered by phpBB © 2000-
ShenmueDojo.net